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Arizona Water Rights
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1103354
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Arizona Water Rights
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Bradley H. Patterson Files (Ford Administration)
Bradley Patterson's Native American Programs Files
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The original documents are located in Box 1, folder "Arizona Water Rights" of the
Bradley H. Patterson Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 1 of the Bradley H. Patterson Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
GERALD FORD LIBRAR)
Saturday Review
AUG 16 1976
488 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022
DOROTHY RE
(212) 751-5908
Cartoon Editor
RN
5
Gerald Ford, President
The White House
100 Pennstlvannia Avenue
Washington, D.C.
August 10, 1976
Dear Sir:
I have written to you about somewhat more serious matters,
Mr. Nixon's pardon, to which you most graciously replied.
The enclosed article from the Times of last week is, to me,
no less a matter of grave importance. The Indians have been
mistreated for too long a time. It is one of Americas saddest
errors. We cannot expect to maintain our freedoms and our way
of life, our high standard of living, if we do not insure it
for those whom we have conquored and now assimilate. We have
abanoned a proud people. We have treated them disgracefully
as history will show whether we do anything for them now or
not. Their history has been a concern of mine since childhood
when I lived in New Mexico and saw how they tried so hard to
preserve their fine heritage. They must be helped in their
effort to remain Indian and they must be aided in every way in
their daily living needs.
The enclosed article is a plea from the Indians of Arizona.
It is my hope and prayer that you will be able to do something
for Indians across this entire land. The fact that this is
written on the eve of the Republican Convention is prompting
me to say that this issue is a very important one to many of
us and that without donning the Indian headdress and posing for
the old political, and overworked, pictures you might just do
something that would boost your slim margin, which incidently
I think is another national disgrace. You should not have to
do battle within your own party after your excellent performance
as President.
I must close with saying that your dancing with the Queen of
England so graciously and handsomely was a highspot in our lives
as Americans.
Very sincerely,
Donathy Wicker Re Re
Award
8/24/76
WHITE HOUSE
MAIL ROOM
1976 AUG I2 PM I 06
An Arizona Indian Asks Congress
To Enact a Water-Rights Bill
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - My people,
and act expeditiously to bring about
the Pima-Maricopa Indians of central
By Gerald Anton
a legislative settlement of our water
Arizona, and our friends the Papagos
rights.
and Mohave-Apaches, are in the midst
in 1908 held that Indian tribes were
Congress has before it the Central
of a desperate battle for enough water
entitled to enough water to make
Arizona Indian Tribal Water Rights
to survive as a people.
their reservations viable. However, the
Act of 1976, introduced by Senator
Our strength is in the law and in
Interior Department, charged by law
Edward M. Kennedy at our request.
the good will of the American people
to serve as trustee of Indian water
This legislation would restore the law-
and their elected representatives.
rights, has in the past actively par-
ful water rights of the 30,000 Pima-
For 2,000 years the Pimas peace-
ticipated in collusions to violate the
Maricopas, Papagos and Mohave-
fully farmed the Salt and Gila River
law and rob the central Arizona tribes,
Apaches of Arizona, allow our tribes
valleys and we prospered. We irrigated
of their water. Because of the shame-
to be self-sufficient again, and relieve
our crops of corn, pumpkins and
ful acts and omissions of the Interior
the taxpayers of the costs of welfare
beans through a vast and complex
Department, the Pimas and our neigh-
for our people.
system of earthen canals constructed
boring tribes today have only enough
The bill would also eliminate the
with wooden and stone tools and a
surface water to farm an average of
need to build the $1 billion Wellton-
high degree of engineering skill. We
less than one acre per person.
Mohawk desalting complex in south-
had developed our famous cotton, and
While it has impoverished the tribes,
western Arizona-and save the Ameri-
early travelers prized the silken
Interior has been generous in bestow-
can taxpayer from a staggering subsidy
blankets woven from it.
ing Indian water on powerful com-
of $6.6 million per farm to the owners
We shared our abundance generous-
mercial interests. Some large corporate
of 151 non-Indian farms.
ly and no traveler left our land
farms irrigated by Federal reclama-
We petitioned the President to sup-
hungry. When Kit Carson offered to
tion projects use more surface water
port the bill or to submit legislation of
buy bread from the Pimas, our re-
than all the 2,700 Salt River Pima-
his own, believing that if the President
sponse was: "Bread is to eat, not to
Maricopas or the 18,000 Papagos.
and the Congress acted quickly, there
sell; take what you want." It is esti-
Having reduced the Indian people
would still be time this year for a
mated that the Pimas fed, "with more
of central Arizona from prosperity and
water-rights bill to be enacted.
than Christian charity," 60,000 suffer-
abundance to poverty and deprivation,
Hearings on the Kennedy bill were
ling emigrants and gold-rushers on the
the United States Government now
scheduled before the Senate Interior
trail to California, according to a
pays out tens of millions of dollars
and Insular Affairs Committee. The
contemporary observer.
per year to provide welfare and other
five central Arizona tribes were invited
A century ago settlers began divert-
special services to us. But the real
to testify next week. Suddenly every-
ing the rivers that irrigated our farms.
cost is reflected in high rates of un-
thing has been called off. Once more
Lush Indian farmland reverted to
employment-about five times the cur-
we are denied our constitutionally
desert, and by the 1900's Indian
rent rate in New York City-alcoholism
protected right to petition for redress
people noted for their prosperity and
and family disintegration, and in gross-
of grievances. Where can we turn when
generosity were starving to death.
ly substandard housing, poor nutrition,
both the President and Congress fail
Now we must depend on welfare to
sickness and shortened lives.
us? We appeal to our fellow Americans
buy the very provisions that we once
The past and continuing failure of
to add their voices to ours, and maybe
produced abundantly ourselves.
the Interior Department to enforce
then we will be heard.
If we had the water to which we
Indian water rights is ultimately the
are legally entitled, we could become
failure of the office of the President
Gerald Anton is president of the
Af-sufficient again.
as well. We appeal to President Ford
Salt River Pima-Maricop Indian com-
The
United
States
of
dishonor
munity
Saturday Review
Dorothy Wicker Re
WORL MAGAZINE
488 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022
MEN
YORK
US POSTAG:
AUG10'76-
J
*************
N.Y :- 6016704 METER
Gerald R. Ford
President of the United States
The White House
100 Pennsylvannia Avenue
Washington, D.C.
(I
Dear Mr. Trimble:
The President has asked me to thank you for
your letter of August 6 concerning S. 3298.
In doing some checking, I find that your letter
should really have been addressed in the first
instance to the Congress, since whether or not
hearings are held (as in the Senate) or whether
or not a bill is introduced (as in the House) is
a matter for decision at that end of Pennsylvania
Avenue. As soon as hearings are in close prospect,
the Administration will gear up to make a report
on the bill.
As NCAI knows, over the past 6 years the Admin-
istration and the Office of the President have been
in the forefront of protecting Indian natural re-
sources rights; we are proud of that record and
will continue to maintain it.
Sincerely yours,
Bradley H. Patterson, Jr.
Mr. Charles E. Trimble
Executive Director
National Congress of American Indians
1430 K Street NW - Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20005
BHP:msp
FORD LIBRARY & SERVID
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
116t withouse w House
K introduced
FORD is LIBRARY SERVID RALD
Goldwater uptight
"intersation"
Hearings request was
cousent buffees objected as
GS request
Nab the uschedated
this session
Megative report fevel
The opened
NATIONAL
CONGRESS
OF
SUITE 700, 1430 K STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 347-9520
AMERICAN
-INDIANS-
August 6, 1976
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Honorable Gerald R. Ford
PRESIDENT
President of the United States
Mel Tonasket
The White House
THE GERALD 8. FORD
Colville
Washington, D. C.
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT
Veronica Murdock
RE: Denial of the Central Arizona Indian
Mohave
TREASURER
Tribes' Right to a Hearing in the
Ray Goetting
Matter of Their Legal & Longstanding
Caddo
Water Rights Claims
RECORDING SECRETARY
Ramona Bennett
Dear Mr. President,
Puyallup
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The attached New York Times editorial of
Charles Trimble
August 5 addresses the legal and longstanding water rights
Oglala Sioux
claims of 30,000 Indian people in Arizona, the ongoing failure
AREA VICE PRESIDENTS
of the Interior Department to enforce these water rights, and
recent Administrative and Congressional actions which have
ABERDEEN AREA
thwarted the Tribes' attempts to legislatively settle these
Joe Chase
Mandan
rights in a fair and orderly manner.
ALASKA AREA
Gordon Jackson
We note with interest that numerous scheduled
Tlinget
hearings before the Senate Committee on Interior & Insular
ANADARKO AREA
Affairs are being conducted according to routine procedure and
Juanita Ahtone
commitment, while the hearing regarding the Central Arizona
Kiowa
Indian Tribal Water Rights Act of 1976 (S.3298, introduced by
BILLINGS AREA
Senator Kennedy and co-sponsored by Senators Hart, Hollings and
Ray Spang
Mondale) has been cancelled in sudden and unexplainable fashion.
Northern Cheyenne
We can only conclude that the Indian people have been singled
GALLUP AREA
out in this regard by the same forces within the Interior Commit-
Victor Sarracino
tee and within the Administration who vowed to the Tribes' Chair-
Laguna
men that their legislative endeavors would not be allowed to pro-
MINNEAPOLIS AREA
ceed through the Congress of the United States.
Stanley Webster
Oneida
MUSKOGEE AREA
Enforcement of the Tribes' legal entitlements to
Katharine Whitehorn
water would accord the opportunity for a return to self-sufficiency
Osage
through irrigation of their once-green farmlands which have been
PHOENIX AREA
dried to wasteland by a century of non-Indian diversion projects.
Irene Cuch
In Salt River President Anton's Times editorial, it is stated that
Ute
the failure to enforce the Indian water rights is "ultimately the
PORTLAND AREA
failure of the office of the President
We appeal to President
Roger Jim
Ford to end a century of dishonor and act expeditiously to bring
Yakima
about a legislative settlement of our water rights."
SACRAMENTO AREA
Rachel Nabahe
In your remarks of July 16, 1976, to Indian leaders
Shoshone/Paiute
gathered at the White House, you delivered a message of great hope
SOUTHEAST AREA
by stating that "(a)n important task we can help you with is the
Jonathan Ed Taylor
Cherokee
challenge of economic development of your lands. I congratulate you
on the initiative that you have shown. I pledge encouragement. I
pledge help in your efforts to create long-term economic development."
WHITE HOUSE
MAIL ROOM
1976 AUG 10 PM I2 04
El CAED BOLID
NATIONAL
CONGRESS
NCAI
OF
SUITE 700, 1430 K STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 347-9520
AMERICAN
-INDIANS-
Correspondence / President Ford / Indian Water Rights
8/6/76
page 2
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT
The Central Arizona Tribes are asking for that promised
Mel Tonasket
help and encouragement. The National Congress of American
Colville
Indians adds its voice to the Tribes' appeal for economic
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT
development and, indeed, survival.
Veronica Murdock
Mohave
TREASURER
Further denial of the Tribes' rightful and
Ray Goetting
lawful claims must end. Further denial can only continue in
Caddo
disregard of history, law and the high moral standard which
RECORDING SECRETARY
form the foundation of the United States. We respectfully
Ramona Bennett
urge that your actions in this matter comply with the basic
Puyallup
principles of treaties and the trust responsibility.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Charles Trimble
Oglala Sioux
Sincerely
AREA VICE PRESIDENTS
ABERDEEN AREA
Joe Chase
Mandan
Charles E. Trimble
ALASKA AREA
Executive Director
Gordon Jackson
Tlinget
ANADARKO AREA
CET/ssh
Juanita Ahtone
Kiowa
encl.
BILLINGS AREA
Ray Spang
Northern Cheyenne
cc: Members, Senate Interior & Insular Affairs Committee
GALLUP AREA
Sponsors, Central Arizona Indian Tribal Water Rights Act of 1976
Victor Sarracino
Chairmen, Central Arizona Indian Tribes
Laguna
Secretary, Department of the Interior
MINNEAPOLIS AREA
Members, Congressional Delegation of Arizona
Stanley Webster
Oneida
Editor, The New York Times
MUSKOGEE AREA
Katharine Whitehorn
Osage
PHOENIX AREA
Irene Cuch
Ute
PORTLAND AREA
Roger Jim
Yakima
SACRAMENTO AREA
RALD GERALD, P. FORD
Rachel Nabahe
Shoshone/Paiute
SOUTHEAST AREA
Jonathan Ed Taylor
Cherokee
An Arizona Indian Asks Congress
To Enact a Water-Rights Bill
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - My people,
and act expeditiously to bring about
the Pima-Maricopa Indians of central
By Gerald Anton
a legislative settlement of our water
Arizona, and our friends the Papagos
rights.
and Mohave-Apaches, are in the midst
in 1908 held that Indian tribes were
Congress has before It the Central
of a desperate battle for enough water
entitled to enough water to make
Arizona Indian Tribal Water Rights
to survive as a people.
their reservations viable. However, the
Act of 1975, introduced by Senator
Our strength is in the law and in
Interior Department, charged by law
Edward ML Kennedy at our request.
the good will of the American people
to serve as trustee of Indian water
This legislation would restore the law-
and their elected representatives.
rights, has in the past actively par-
ful water rights of the 30,000 Pima-
For 2,000 years the Pimas peace-
ticipated in collusions to violate the
Maricopas, Papagos and Mohave-
fully farmed the Salt and Gila River
law and rob the central Arizona tribes
Apaches of Arizona. allow our tribes
valleys and we prospered. We irrigated
of their water. Because of the shame-
to be self-sufficient again, and relieve
our crops of corn, pumpkins and
ful acts and omissions of the Interior
the taxpayers of the costs of welfare
beans through a vast and complex
Department, the Pimas and our neigh-
for our people.
system of earthen canals constructed
boring tribes today have only enough
The bill would also eliminate the
with wooden and stone tools and a
surface water to farm an average of
need to build the SI billion Wellton-
high degree of engineering skill. We
less than one acre per person.
Mohawk desalting complex in south-
had developed our famous cotton, and
While it has impoverished the tribes,
western Arizona-and save the Ameri-
early travelers prized the silken
Interior has been generous in bestow-
can taxpayer from a staggering subsidy
blankets woven from it
ing Indian water on powerful com-
of $6.6 million per farm to the owners
We shared our abundance generous-
mercial interests. Some large corporate
of 11 non-Indian farms.
ly and no traveler left our land
farms irrigated by Federal reclama-
We petitioned the President to sup-
hungry. When Kit Carson offered to
tion projects use more surface water
port the bill or to submit legislation of
buy broad from the Pimas, our re-
than all the 2,700 Sale River Pima-
his own believing that if the President
sponse was: "Bread is to eat, not to
Maricopas or the 18,000 Papagos.
and the Congress act quickly, there is
sell; take what you want." It is esti-
Having reduced the Indian people
still time this year for 2. water-rights
mated that the Pimas fed, "with more
of central Arizona from prosperity and
bill to be enacted.
than Christian charity," 60,000 suffer-
abundance to poverty and deprivation,
Hearings on the Kennedy bill were
ing emigrants and gold-rushers on the
the United States Government now
scheduled before the Senate Interior
trail to California, according to a
pays out tens of millions of dollars
and Insular Affairs Committee. The
contemporary observer.
per year to provide welfare and other
five central Arizona tribes were invited
A century ago settlers began divert-
special services to us. But the real
to testify next week. Suddenly every-
ing the rivers that irrigated our farms.
cost is reflected in high rates of un-
thing has been called off. Once more
Lush Indian farmland reverted to
employment-about five times the cur-
we are denied our constitutionally
desert, and by the 1900's Indian
rent rate in New York City-alcoholism
protected right to petition for redress
people noted for their prosperity and
and family disintegration, and in gross-
of griavances. Where can we turn when
generosity were starving to death.
ly substandard housing, poor nutrition,
both the President and Congress fail
Now we must depend on welfare to
sickness and shortened lives.
us? We appeal to our fellow Americans
buy the very provisions that we once
The past and continuing failure of
to add their voices to ours, and maybe
produced abundantly ourselves.
the Interior Department to enforce
then we will be heard.
If we had the water to which we
Indian water rights is ultimately the
are legally entitled, we could become
failure of the office of the President
Gerald Anton is president of the
self-suificient again.
as well. We appeal to President Ford
Sult River Pima-Maricopa Indian com-
The United States Supreme Court
to finally end a century o? dishonor
munity.
N.Y. Aug. 5,1976
GERALD ? FORD
NATIONAL
CONGRESS
NONPROFIT ORG.
WASHINGTON
U.S.POSTAG!
AUG-6'73
NCAI
OF
E.I 3 III
AMERICAN
D.C
OMETER
MC.567235
-INDIANS-
The Honorable Gerald R. Ford
1430 K STREET, N.W.
President of the United States
SUITE 700
The White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005
Washington, D. C.